Pokemon: Destiny Red
by TestSubjectPinkamena
Summary: On Red's tenth birthday, he receives his first pokemon. It's everything he's ever dreamed, until Team Rocket, his father's unknown identity, and a love triangle between his two best friends gets involved. Now he's in a race against time to save not only his friends and family, but all of Kanto as well. Rated T for mature themes and violence.
1. Chapter 1

I don't remember much before I started my pokemon journey, but I do remember a recurring dream I had many times. A man is yelling at my mom while she screams back. It is an evil man who wants to take me away. I can only assume these are projections of what I think of my father, the way he left Mom when I could barely walk. At least, that's what I assume happened.

Everytime I would ask Mom about my dad when I was little, she seemed to get really uncomfortable and told me to go play somewhere else. Eventually, I stopped asking and got the message. My dad had done _something_ to my mom and whatever it was, it was bad. If I could, I'd give my dad a punch in the gut just to let him know how I felt.

I shouldn't be complaining though, the two other kids in my town, Pallet Town, had it way worse than me. One is a girl named Green who, rather than have her mother be mildly uncomfortable at the mention of her father, her mother goes into hysterics and needs to be given some sort of medication. Despite this, Green holds no ill will against her father. Go figure.

The other kid, Blue, doesn't have parents at all and instead he and his sister were raised by their grandfather, the famous Professor Oak.

To be honest, Blue's kind of a jerk but every time I say this Green goes and defends him saying, "Cut him some slack, Red. He's miserable." Personally, I don't think that constitutes how he acts, but I'll be nice to him as long as it makes Green happy.

I awoke to the sight of my mother smiling ear to ear. She had something wrapped in paper in her hands.

"Happy Birthday, Red!" she said, handing me the paper-wrapped thing. "I got this for you."

I unwrapped the paper and smiled. It was a crimson pokemon league cap, complete with logo.

"Thanks, Mom. I love it." I said, quietly.

She looked ecstatic. I bet that made her day.

After gulping down some breakfast, I headed to the pokemon lab. Apparently, Professor Oak had a present for me as well.

"Ah, Red! Come in, come in!" Oak said, gesturing for me to come inside.

Stepping inside, I could see that Blue and Green were standing there. Green had a look of excitement, while Blue simply looked bored.

"O-oh...Red! Happy birthday!" Green greeted. "Here."

She handed me a little clay figure of a Pikachu on a surfboard. I smiled. Green was always good with her hands so I bet she made that herself.

"It's not much, but I thought you would like it." she said.

"Thanks, Green. I appreciate it." I responded. That made her blush.

We stared at each other for I don't know how long, not knowing what to say, when the sound of Blue's voice snapped us back to reality.

"If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, some of us would like to get to picking our pokemon?"

"Shut up, Blue." I said, anger rising in me until I realized what he had said. "Wait, pokemon?"

"Yes!" Professor Oak chimed, "I'm going to give you three a pokemon, and Red, since it's your birthday I'm giving you first pick."

Blue groaned. "Of course he favors you, Red."

"Shut up, Blue." I said again.

"Just pick your damn pokemon, hotshot."

I looked at the three pokeballs sitting on the table, each neatly labeled with the name of the pokemon inside. "Bulbasaur" said the one on the left, "Squirtle" the one on the right, then my eyes fell to the center one. I picked it up gingerly and pressed the button in the middle. Before me stood a small lizard pokemon with a flame at the end of its tail.

"Ah, so you're going with Charmander then, Red?" Oak said smiling.

"Yes, I think we'll get along nicely." I said back.

After Blue and Green both chose their pokemon, Professor Oak gave us our Pokedexes and sent us on our way. When we were about to step into the tall grass, however, Green stopped us.

"I think we should take the first step together." she said bluntly, then locked arms with us and pulled us onto the route. Blue fell flat on his face.

"You think you could, oh, I don't know, _not_ pull me through the mud?" he said, as he spit out some grass.

"Oopsie. Sorry, Blue." Green apologized, then shot me a look for laughing.

And so started our pokemon journey. We had no idea what lie in store for us, but maybe that was a good thing. After all, if I would have known what trials lie in store for me, I may not have left at all.


	2. Chapter 2

As we walked through the grass, Green was chattering away about how much fun she was having. Blue just kept quiet, though his eyes were shifting, probably looking for pokemon. That was exactly what was on my mind: pokemon.

"Oh my gosh! I can't wait until we run into a cute, little pokemon!" Green gushed.

"That's why I'm going on ahead. You know, to scout out the area." Blue said.

I gave him a look. What was he up to?

"Hey, I gotta make sure everything's safe for our lovely lady here." He smiled slyly.

"Blue!" Green huffed in an exasperated tone. But he was already running ahead.

I sighed. "Don't let him get to you, Green."

Green and I walked for a few minutes in silence. We could see the next town in the distance.

"We're almost there, Green!" I said, smiling. "Just a little-" but I was cut off by Green's surprised yelp.

I turned to see a Rattata biting at Green's legs, obviously not too happy. It turned to me and snarled, ready for a fight.

It happened so fast. In a panic I reached for Charmander's pokeball and sent it out.

"Charmander! Scratch it away!" I yelled. Charmander swatted its claws at the Rattata and quickly dodged its Tackle.

"Okay! Use Scratch again, Charmander!" Another swat with its claws. This time the Tackle hit. Charmander stumbled backwards. I pulled out an empty pokeball and threw.

It drew in the Rattata in a flash of white light, then shook once, twice, three times, then clicked.

I exhaled. That was close.

"Are you okay, Green?" I asked, holding out my hand. She took it and I helped her up.

"Yeah, I think so. Just a little roughed up." She got up, then winced in pain. I looked down to see that the Rattata's bites had broken the skin.

I pulled my first aid kit out of my backpack. No trainer should be caught dead without one, especially out in dangerous places like this.

"Don't worry, I'll have it patched up in a second." I said, dabbing some ointment on her wound. Green winced even more. I wrapped her leg up and smiled up at her.

"See? All done!" I gave her a reassuring nod.

"Thanks Red…" Green whispered.

Once we were on the edge of the city, we could see Blue tossing a pokeball in his hand.

"About time you two got here." he said, not looking at us, though he did have a playful smile on his face. "I've already caught myself another pokemon!"

"So have I!" I said quickly. Green giggled.

"We'll just have to battle to test them out then." Blue retorted before running ahead again. This time we were hot on his tail.

We ran into town, all the way up to the Pokemon Center, where Blue turned to us.

"I'm going to get my new pokemon healed up! You should too if we're gonna battle." he said, rushing inside.

Green and I stepped in and collectively gasped. The place was so big! Nurses scurried around, tending to injured pokemon. We stared in awe until the lady at the counter beckoned us over.

"Hi there! Welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center. What can I do for you?" she chimed.

"We'd like to get our pokemon healed, ma'am." I said.

We handed her our pokeballs and she placed them in the machine. Once they were done she said goodbye to us, the same smile as before, and we were on our way.

Once out, we made our way to a plaza where people we letting their pokemon out to run around, so we did too. It was then that I noticed something.

"Rattata's nipping at everything that moves." I said with a sigh. "I wish I could make it stop."

"Cut Darcy some slack, Red!" Green exclaimed.

"It's terrorizing the-! Wait, Darcy?" I said, confused.

"Yeah!" Green said, smiling. "It's got to have a nickname, doesn't it?"

I couldn't help but smile. "I just wish we had some chew toys or something…"

"You could see if the pokemart has some." Green suggested. "Anything to keep from having a repeat of last time!"

So I headed for the pokemart.

"What can I help you with?" The man at the counter asked.

"Well, you see…" I began. "I have this Rattata, and it won't stop biting things, and…"

"Say no more." he interrupted. "Rattata need things to bite on to file its teeth. These wooden blocks should do the trick."

I payed and thanked him, ready to go on back to my journey.

I had barely stepped out the door when my pokedex started vibrating. I pulled it out and saw a message from Green:

 _Headed off to the forest_

 _Let's battle when we get the chance_

I smiled. It was then that I noticed another message, this one from Blue.

 _Come to the pokemon league gate_

 _I want to battle_

When I got there, Blue was standing there smirking.

"What are you so happy about?" I said eyeballing him.

"Nothing," he said, "I just think it's funny. Funny that you think you even have a chance with Green. You just wait! I'll pummel you!"

And with that he sent out his Pidgey, ready for our battle. I shrugged.

"Charmander! Let's go!" I cried, sending said pokemon out.

They stared each other down for a moment, then, with a silent confirmation, charged.

Charmander batted at Pidgey with its claws, scratching and leaving broken skin behind. Pidgey did not seem fazed, however, as it started flapping its wings rapidly, kicking up a cloud of dust. Charmander was blinded. Pidgey took the opportunity to peck at its eyes, doing major damage.

"Why not give up now, Red?" Blue taunted, "There's no shame in losing!"

"Charmander! Ember!" I screamed angrily.

Charmander shot a ball of fire that hit Pidgey square in the face. It plummeted down to the ground with a crash. It was down.

"Pidgey! Come back!" Blue yelled, returning Pidgey to its pokeball. He then threw his second pokemon out, once again yelling, "Alright Squirtle, let's cream 'em!"

Before I could even yell out a command, Squirtle was pummeling Charmander with jets of water. It never stood a chance.

"Charmander, return." I said weakly, sending Charmander back into the pokeball.

This was bad. All I had left was the Rattata I barely knew. How was I supposed to win? Reluctantly I sent it out.

Before I could even mutter a command, Rattata rammed itself into Squirtle, knocking it back a few feet. Squirtle didn't even have time to get up before Rattata had sunk its teeth into Squirtle's cheek. It writhed in pain, trying to shake it off.

Blue finally couldn't take anymore. "Red! I forfeit! Just call your damn pokemon off!"

"Rattata! Get back!" I yelled. Rattata came back into the pokeball in a flash of red.

"You need to learn to control your team better." Blue snarled, turning and walking away, leaving me to process this.

I sighed. "Ho boy, this is gonna be harder then I thought."


	3. Chapter 3

I walked back to the plaza, my head held low. What was I thinking using a feral and untrained pokemon to fight? I would have to do better.

The plaza was once again filled with trainers and their pokemon. Looking around at all the smiling faces was making me realize that I needed to try my hardest to get Rattata on my side. Oh boy, this was gonna be tough.

For the next few hours I was pacing around, trying to think of something - anything - I could do. All the while, Rattata was nipping at my ankles.

"Would you leave me alone!" I growled, getting more and more frustrated by the second. I then nudged it away with my foot, which seemed to only make it mad.

At this point, people had begun to look my way as I yelled some more at Rattata.

"Ugh! This is getting us nowhere!" I huffed. Then came a voice from behind me.

"Excuse me? Is this Rattata yours?" I turned to see the Pokemart attendant from before with a frown on his face.

"Oh, it's you. Yeah, this one's mine." I said flatly.

His eyes widened. "Oh hey, you're the kid who bought the chew toys. It might not be a bad idea to use those now."

I looked at my backpack and pulled out the blocks, throwing them to Rattata who began to chew on them. It looked pleased.

"You're a rookie trainer, aren't you?" he asked, the smile finally returning to his face. "You need to earn your pokemon's trust before it will listen to you. I can help if you'd like." He stuck out his hand. "The name's Rick."

I shook his hand, though I was a bit sceptical. "Red."

Rick had sat us down on a bench in the plaza and started going over things.

"I see a lot of new trainers come by who don't know how to raise the pokemon they catch. It isn't uncommon to struggle a bit at first, so don't be afraid to ask questions." He smiled warmly.

I scowled, but nodded anyway. Rick pulled out a pokeball and threw it, sending out a Wigglytuff.

"Wigglytuff, play with Rattata for a bit. I'm going to talk to Red while you do." He got up and beckoned me to follow.

We walked around a bit as he explained things.

"You need to be kind and understanding of your pokemon. This means treating them with respect, thinking about their needs, and of course," he paused, "You need to not yell at them."

I could feel my face turning redder by the second. "I wouldn't yell if it actually listened to me…" I mumbled.

Rick chuckled. "Perhaps you should try to see things from Rattata's point of view. It's been captured and confined in a tiny pokeball by someone it doesn't know and then forced to fight by said person. It's got to be a bit of a shock."

My face flushed. "Yeah…well…" I was at a loss for words.

Rick raised an eyebrow. "It makes you think a bit, doesn't it?"

After that, Rick led me back to the pokemart where he gave me a small bag of pokemon food free of charge. He told me to give some to Rattata.

In the plaza, I held out a handful of food to it, hoping it wouldn't bite my finger. It sniffed, then began to nibble. Soon it was gobbling down the food, then it looked up expectantly for more.

"Tell you what," I said to Rattata, "If you don't bite anyone I'll give you food, alright?" It blinked and then gave my finger a nibble.

"I guess that's a step in the right direction. How about we get some food, huh?" I was starting to get pretty hungry.

Inside the pokemon center there was a little cafe selling sandwiches. I ordered a "peanut butter delight" and sat down by the window. I had just began eating when I noticed someone looking at me with eyes wide.

"Can I help you?" I groaned, annoyed. Rattata had begun to lick the peanut butter off my hands. I'd never seen it so happy before.

"You really like to eat, don't you?" I asked. It gave an excited squeak as it began to sniff at my sandwich.

I sighed, then broke off a piece and tossed it to Rattata.

"If this is what will get you on my side, I guess I'll go with it…"

After that, I decided to go north to Viridian Forest. I didn't expect what was waiting for me.

"Hey, Red!" Green squealed, bouncing on her heels. "Are you ready for our battle?"

"Battle?" I said.

"Yeah! Don't you remember my message?"

"Oh, yeah…" I said, embarrassed.

I barely had time to think before she pulled out her pokeball. "Ready or not, here I come!" Green yelled.

Out came Bulbasaur and it looked ready for battle. I let Charmander out. It stretched itself, obviously having been in the pokeball a while, and stood, ready to fight.

Green wasted no time at all. "Okay! Use Vine Whip, Dino!" I couldn't help but smile at the nickname she'd given her pokemon. However, that also meant I wasn't paying attention.

Vines protruded from the bulb on Dino's back and swatted Charmander in the face, temporarily knocking it down. As I snapped back to attention and realized what was happening, I went through my options, but not before telling Charmander to hang in there and get up.

"Oh no you don't!" Green said. "Tackle!" Dino came barreling towards us, ready to deal the final blow. Suddenly, an idea struck me. "Charmander! Wait till it gets close!"

Dino came closer, closer, closer still, when finally…

"Ember!" I screamed.

I could hear Dino's yelp of surprise as it went down. It was a direct hit.

Green frowned. "Aw, that was mean." She sent Dino back to the pokeball.

"Okay, I won't lose with this one!" She threw the other pokeball. A particularly large Caterpie came out. "Okay, Kitty! Let's do this!"

Charmander got to its feet and stood strong, ready to attack at a moment's notice. I eyed the Caterpie, sizing it up. It was larger than most I had seen in textbooks at school. It had to be at least a foot and a half!

I tried to tell Charmander to use Ember again, only to be interrupted by Green's call of "String Shot!" The next thing I knew, Charmander was tangled in sticky thread. It couldn't move.

Green took this opportunity to attack, yelling, "Okay! Use Tackle, Kitty!" And that was it; Charmander had been knocked unconscious. I guess it was Kitty's size that made the attack so powerful.

I started to sweat. Was Rattata ready for a fight like this? How did I know it was going to listen to me? "I guess I have no choice..." I sulked.

Out came Rattata, who looked hungrier than ever. It looked back expectantly, sniffing at my backpack, right where I kept the-

"Rattata!" I said suddenly, "I'll give you food if you do what I tell you, okay?"

Its eyes lit up excitedly. Then, it turned around and stood, ready for battle.

Green giggled. "That's cute, Red. I can't wait to see who wins!"

Green beckoned in Kitty for another String Shot, but Rattata was quick on its feet, dodging this way and that, and soon Kitty looked dizzy.

"Use Bite!" I yelled, and Rattata followed suite. Once Kitty had shaken it off, it went in for another Tackle, knocking Rattata back. It looked like that had hurt, but Rattata was already getting up.

Immediately, before I could say a word, Rattata charged forward. I thought it might be going rogue again, but it seemed to be whipping its tail around, faking Kitty out. It suddenly clicked with me. Kitty's guard was down!

"Rattata! Finish it off with Tackle!" I bellowed. That was it, Kitty was down.

Green whistled. "You're really something, Red! I can't wait to battle you when I'm stronger." We stared at each other for an awkward moment, then Green said, "Oh! I'll heal your pokemon for you. Here!"

After that, she said her goodbyes and ran off into the forest to train. I decided to follow. I stepped into the trees and let the darkness engulf me, Rattata and Charmander by my side. Things were starting to look up, alright.


	4. Chapter 4

The forest was lush and vibrant with the smell of flora wafting through the air. It delighted my senses as I walked through, completely unaware of the young boy trying to get my attention. He ran up to me, finally, and got up in my face looking annoyed.

"Hey!" he shouted, "You're a pokemon trainer, aren't you?"

Refocusing myself, I stared at him for a moment. "Yeah, I am. What of it?"

He smiled playfully. "Then you can't refuse a battle from any trainer, especially us Bug Catchers! C'mon, I'll take you on with my Weedle!" He sent out the small worm pokemon as if he'd been waiting for this for ages.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, but sent out Charmander anyway. Who was I to turn down some free practice?

The Weedle began by squirting some sticky string at Charmander, which was more of an annoyance than anything. It didn't slow it down all that much. Charmander was, however, momentarily stunned due to some getting in its eyes. Weedle took this opportunity to use its stinger. Charmander winced a bit before retaliating with an Ember, knocking the Weedle out in one hit.

"What?!" the Bug Catcher roared, "No fair! There's no way you could have beaten my top percentage Weedle! You _obviously_ cheated!"

I rolled my eyes again. "I was using a fire-type. Of course I won. Maybe you should learn more about type match-ups."

"Who actually memorizes type match-ups? What a loser!" he whined, storming off before I could yell an insult back.

That made me mad. I wanted to scream in his general direction, but then I felt someone watching me. I looked around, looking for anyone else who might be with me in the clearing. Nothing. And then…

I heard a rustle come from a nearby bush. Thinking it was a pokemon, I got down on my hands and knees and said, "It's okay, you can come out." What came out from behind the bush was not a pokemon, but a girl with her hair in a ponytail. She looked to be a few years younger that me and I could tell from the look of her that she was someone quite unusual.

"I'm sorry I was spying on you." she said, shyly. "I was watching your battle."

I stood up and brushed the grass off my jeans. She seemed embarrassed for having been spying on me.

"It's fine." I said, awkwardly. "What did you think?"

Why the hell did I say that?

But her face lit up. "Oh! I thought you were amazing! I've never seen someone battle so passionately-" She was talking very fast. She seemed so excited, as if she had been holding that in.

She went on. "-I could never do that, you know? Especially since I don't have my own pokemon! But I see a lot of trainers come through here, so-"

"Wait," I interrupted. "You don't have a pokemon of you own?"

She looked down at her feet. "No…but I'll get one someday! The problem is that I don't really know how to catch one..."

I smiled at her. "I'll tell you what. I'll catch you a pokemon, then you can battle like I do. I'll even teach you battling basics. Sound good?"

"Oh! Yes, please!" she beamed.

I gave her an approving nod. "My name's Red. What's yours?"

"I-I'm Yellow!" She then turned to Charmander who, despite winning the battle, looked quite unwell.

"Your pokemon is poisoned. Its health has been dropping while we were talking. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't notice…" She gave Charmander a gentle pat on the head. Which seemed to perk it right up.

"Thanks, Yellow. I'll get Charmander to a Pokemon Center as soon as we get to the next town." I said, happily.

We walked around a bit as I told her the ins and outs of battling. She seemed very interested, if not a little overwhelmed with excitement.

"And choose your battles wisely." I said finally. "You don't want to get in over your head." Yellow nodded.

Another rustle coming from a nearby bush snapped both of us to attention. We peaked over it to find something with a lightning shaped tail sniffing at the flowers. A Pikachu!

I took a deep breath. "Watch how I do this, Yellow. I'm gonna show you how to catch a pokemon." She nodded again.

I sent out Rattata, who went in for a Fury Swipes attack. The Pikachu quickly dodged out of the way, having been apparently aware that we were here. It charged up for an electric attack, then gave a jolt of electricity to Rattata. Rattata gave a yelp of pain, then scurried back toward me. At this point I guessed that it was refusing to fight any more.

"I don't know if Charmander's up to fighting. Maybe we should-" But I was cut off by Charmander running up and throwing an Ember, catching the Pikachu off guard and hitting it in the face. It seemed to have a serious burn there. Now that Pikachu was knocked off its feet, I threw my pokeball. It engulfed the Pikachu and drew it inside.

Soon it was wiggling around on the ground as the pokemon struggled, when a click told me it was caught. I smiled as I picked up the pokeball and handed it to Yellow.

"Pikachu is your pokemon now, Yellow. Do you wanna practice battling on some wild pokemon?" I looked her in the eyes as she smiled back.

"Even better," she said, looking excited. "I saw some more Bug Catchers up ahead. You wanna go battle them with me?"

I was a bit taken aback, but I nodded. "If they're all as much of a jerk as the one I battled, I'll be happy to take them down!"

We ran up ahead, ready to battle. It was only later that I realized, not only had Charmander seemed to have fully recovered from the poison, but Pikachu's burn mark was gone too.

After beating the seventh Metapod in a row with the occasional Beedrill or Butterfree and leaving the Bug Catchers begging for mercy, we reached the exit to the forest. Yellow was laughing like she had never been happier.

"Did you see how much damage your Charmander's fire attacks did? That was amazing!" she beamed.

"Give yourself some credit, Yellow. You've really mastered Pikachu's Thunder Wave. Those bugs couldn't attack at all!" I was impressed. She learned fast.

As the sun hit my eyes, blinding in comparison to the dark forest, the next town was visible. Pewter City was within reach.

Yellow coughed awkwardly. "I, uh, guess this is where we should part ways and I'll…catch some more pokemon. B-but, promise I can battle you someday? So I can maybe be your...?"

I chuckled slightly. "Friend? Sure. I'd love to see all the pokemon you catch. We'll meet up sometime in the future, okay?"

Yellow nodded, then ran off somewhere ahead. I began to run towards the direction of the city. I was ready to face whatever came next.

Pewter City was much bigger than the towns I'd seen so far. I had no idea where to go, so I pulled aside a local.

"Excuse me, I'm a pokemon trainer. Can you point me in the right direction? Where should I be heading?"

The guy grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a building on the side of town, saying, "A pokemon trainer, huh? We get a lot of you around here. You want to head to the Gym, son!"

When he finally let go and I was able to process what had just happened, I looked up at the building with a big "Gym" sign on the front. That's right, I should collect the eight badges so I can challenge the Elite Four.

I was ready. I took a deep breath and opened the doors. Time for my first gym battle.


	5. Chapter 5

Immediately upon entering the gym, I noticed there was barely anyone there. The gym leader sat at the back, only guarded by a young boy in camping gear.

I came up to the boy and asked, "Is the gym leader available to battle?"

He looked up at me, a bored expression on his face, and nodded. "You might want to hurry, though. He has to leave soon."

I ran up to the gym leader and said, "Hello, I want to battle. I'm looking to earn my first gym badge."

The leader sighed. "Let's make this quick. I've got more important things to attend to."

He stood up and pulled out his pokeball. "I am Brock of Pewter Gym! My pokemon have rock hard determination and iron defense! Rock pokemon are tough! If you think you can beat- why are you staring at me?"

I blinked. "You remind me of someone. Oh! That Bruno guy I've seen on TV! You look a lot like him. Do you know him?"

"Talk of Bruno isn't welcome here." Brock said coldly. "Now are we going to battle?"

I sent out Rattata, quickly throwing it some food. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

He sent out his Geodude, immediately yelling, "Okay! Tackle attack!"

Geodude came barreling toward Rattata, who just barely jumped out of the way in time. Rattata then went in for a Fury Swipes, which wasn't doing much. Geodude picked up a rock and threw, which Rattata didn't quite dodge this time, and Rattata left wincing in pain. Still though, Rattata went in for a Bite. Big mistake.

"What's wrong Ratta- oh…" I said, then saw that Rattata's teeth had been chipped from Biting a rock pokemon like Geodude. Still, Rattata was trying to face Geodude head on.

"Rattata, stop! You can't keep going on like this! Get back!" I cried, scooping up Rattata and returning it to its pokeball. This was gonna be tough.

I sent out Charmander. "Charmander! Use Ember!"

But before Charmander could pull off its attack, Brock yelled out, "Geodude! Self Destruct!" Geodude burst out in a fiery explosion. Charmander was still standing, but only barely.

"I'm surprised your Charmander is still standing after that." Brock said confidently. "Don't get cocky, though. You've still got my Onix to deal with!"

My heart sank. He had another pokemon? I knew I was done for the moment he sent it out.

"Wait!" I yelled. "I give. Charmander can't take much more. I'll leave."

I turned and walked out, not even waiting to hear Brock's response.

* * *

At the pokemon center, I sat looking at the floor as Charmander and Rattata got their wounds tended to. If I was going to beat Brock, my pokemon would have to get stronger. I would have to train.

It took me a while to realize that there was a red-headed girl walking towards me.

"Hey," she said. "I saw you battling Brock. That was some battle you had."

I merely grunted. She laughed. "Look kid, if you want to beat Brock, I may be able to help. Brock and I have been friends for years. I know how he thinks and really, if you get to know that too, it might help. Plus, I know a bit about battling pokemon. So, what do you say?"

"What's the catch?" I said, irritably.

"The next gym leader is even harder than Brock. I think they'd want a worthy opponent." she explained.

"You know them?"

"You could say that. So c'mon, you gonna let ol' Misty help out?"

I thought a moment. "Okay. What's first?"

After getting my pokemon back, we headed out.

* * *

Misty had stopped us in front of one of the houses in town.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, confused. "Shouldn't we be going somewhere to train?"

Misty gave me a sly smile. "Know your opponent and you need not fear a hundred battles. Brock lives here. I told you it'd be best to get to know him, didn't I?"

"So, what," I started, "Are we just gonna walk in and talk to him? That wouldn't end well."

"No," Misty said, starting to get annoyed. "Look into the window."

I did, and what I found was Brock and a little girl that looked a lot like him sitting around a coffee table with a tea set.

"He's…having a tea party?"

Misty nodded. "Yup. He's playing with his little sister since his mother can't. She's deathly ill. If it weren't for the money from some mysterious stranger, she'd probably be dead. I know exactly who they're from too, but I have a feeling if Brock knew, he wouldn't accept them."

I was shocked. "Who?"

Misty sighed. "His deadbeat father. Only being a member of the Pokemon League gets you that much money. If only Bruno did more than send money to fix leaving his broken family."

"You mean Bruno is…?"

"Yup. Bruno is Brock's father, and Brock hates him. It's a shame, they'd be so much happier if they just made up. I guess it's a pride thing."

Suddenly, losing didn't seem so bad.

"You can imagine why Brock went full force on you. Mentioning his dad must have struck a nerve." Misty said, sadly.

"Anyway," she said, gesturing for me to follow. "Let's get on with that training, shall we?"

* * *

On the outskirts of town, Misty had begun evaluating my pokemon.

"Your Rattata seems to be able to hold its own already, so I think we should just train your Charmander." she said, then sent out her own pokemon, a Psyduck.

"It'd be helpful to train against pokemon with an advantage, like what Brock is using. Water is strong against fire, so my Psyduck will be a worthy challenge for your Charmander."

I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but I shrugged and sent out Charmander.

The rest of the day was filled with Charmander being repeatedly pelted with jets of water just trying to get a hit off. Eventually, Misty told me to sleep on it.

Back at the Pokemon Center inn, I wondered how we were ever going to get past Brock, but I also thought about what I had learned about him too.

Eventually, I worried myself into exhaustion and fell asleep.

The next day was more of the same, until…

Charmander's claws seemed to turn hard and metallic as it blocked the jets of water. It then slashed at Psyduck causing it to stumble backwards. Misty began to clap.

"Nice job, your Charmander learned Metal Claw! It's a steel type attack, so it should help against Brock's team. I'd say you're ready for a rematch."

So off I went.

Upon reentering the gym, Brock once again acknowledged me.

"I see you didn't learn your lesson last time. You can't hope to beat me with pokemon like that."

"Brock, I'm sorry I set you off. Misty trained me and explained everything." I said.

Brock huffed. "Misty doesn't know how to stay out of other people's business. Not that I blame her…"

He sent out Geodude saying, "I'd like to see how far she pushed you. C'mon, let's see how you've improved!"

I sent out Charmander, then yelled, "Metal Claw!"

"Geodude! Rock Throw!" Brock yelled back.

Geodude threw a boulder strait at Charmander, whose claws were becoming hard and sharp. As it came closer and closer, about to hit Charmander square in the face, the little lizard thrust its claws strait into the rock, breaking it in two. Charmander then went in and struck Geodude, heavily weakening it. In a last ditch effort, Geodude went in for a Body Slam, only to be hit with another direct hit from Charmander's Metal Claw. It was down.

All that was left was Onix. It towered over everything in the room, it was intimidating.

Onix went in for a Tackle, only for Charmander to dodge it swiftly. Onix was prepared though, it managed to catch Charmander in a Bind. It was squeezing Charmander and damaging it all the while. Charmander couldn't break free and struggled until-

A blinding white light filled the room. Charmander was glowing and its body seemed to be growing and shifting. Onix was knocked back into the wall, causing the lights to flicker. When they came back on, Charmander seemed bigger, bulkier, and had what looked like a horn on its head.

"You evolved!" I cried, unable to believe it.

Brock smiled. "It shows, how much your pokemon cares for you, that it evolved to help you win the battle. Don't get too comfortable though. You haven't won yet!"

Charmeleon started using Metal Claw all over every vulnerable part of Onix's body, chipping away at it, little by little. All Onix could do was try to flick it away with its tail. Finally, it slammed it's Charmeleon into the wall. They stood facing each other, until-

With a loud crash, Onix fell to the ground. It was over, we had won.

Brock began applauding saying, "Bravo! I haven't been this excited during a match in a long while! Congratulations kid! You've earned yourself a Boulder Badge!" He handed me a small, metallic badge shaped like a stone.

"Thank you." was all I said.

"Here's my advice," Brock began, "Head through Mt. Moon to Cerulean City. The next gym is there. Aim to collect all eight badges, then challenge the Pokemon League. That's the way to make it to the top."

"Oh, okay. That's east of here, right?"

"Yes. Oh and if you're heading to Cerulean, can you take this to Misty?" He handed me a candy bar. "Misty loves Rage Candy Bars. They're her favorite. And can you tell her I'll come see her soon? Thanks."

And with that, I headed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Heading out to the next route, I got an unexpected surprise.

"Hi, Red! Nice to see you, did you get a gym badge too?" Green called, happy as ever.

"Yeah," I replied. "From Brock. I guess you've got a Boulder Badge, huh?"

"Oh, yeah. Rock types are no match for Bulbasaur's grass attacks. It even learned Leech Seed!" Green said proudly. "Anyway, I was wondering if you would help me out?"

I smiled. "Name it."

She leaned in closer. "I'm trying to catch a Nidoran, but I can't find one. Maybe you could help me look? Please?"

"Is that all? Sure Green, I'll help."

So we looked around in the grassy areas bit. Green was off looking in the other side of the area when I spotted something in the grass. I quietly sneaked up to get a closer look.

There it was, a small, purple Nidoran, just sitting there taking a nap. With any luck I could catch it without even waking it up. I creeped a little closer, readying my pokeball.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my right ankle. I turned in surprise to see another Nidoran had bitten it and was coming back for more. Right behind came Green chasing after it yelling, "Come back! I just want to catch you!"

The Nidoran from before had woken up and was now attacking me from the other side in a grumpy rage. Needless to say, I had to curl up to soften the blows.

"Kitty! Use Confusion!" came Green's voice.

The Nidorans stopped attacking and fell to the ground, clutching their heads. I rolled over to see Green and her Butterfree staring down at me.

"Are you okay, Red?" she asked, helping me up.

"Yeah…I guess we're even now, huh?"

"I guess we are."

I looked down at the Nidorans. "Do you think we should catch both of them? I mean…we went through all the trouble."

Green thought a moment. "Yeah…yeah, I think we should. That way both of us can take one. The more pokemon the better, right?"

We pulled out our pokeballs and threw them at the pokemon. They immediately clicked.

* * *

After sending out all our pokemon to let the two newbies get acquainted, we noticed something strange. The two Nidorans were constantly staying by each other and were very protective of each other.

"You know what I noticed?" Green asked. "One's male and one's female. Do you think they're…?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

After letting everyone play a bit we sent them back into their pokeballs and headed for the cave entrance.

"So this is Mt. Moon, huh?" Green said, staring up at the cliffs above. "We go through here to get to the next city?"

I nodded. "Go through here, we get to Cerulean and the next gym leader. You ready?"

We stepped in to the sounds of Zubats flapping about. We could see Onix and Geodudes lurking around in the shadows and we heard distant voices chatting away about who knows what.

We decided to make our way through the cave and began wandering about, looking for the way through.

After a while I stopped Green and whispered, "Do you hear that?"

I could barely see her shake her head, but I could have sworn I heard something.

"Listen." I again whispered. Indeed, there were voices coming from farther inside the cave. One sounded pleading, while the others sounded arrogant and hostile.

"Give it back! It's not your pokemon!" a familiar voice of a little girl yelled.

"No way! If you want it back you'll have to take it from us, little girl!" came a woman's snide voice.

"This is like taking candy from a baby! Wouldn't you say, Meowth?" This time a man's voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up and nab the other one before someone sees us." Who did this voice belong to?

"Yellow?" I called, getting concerned.

"Someone's here! Let's get outta here, ya numbskulls!"

The sound of footsteps shuffling away as we ran to see what was going on told me all I needed to know. I arrived, panting hard, to see what had happened.

It looked as though Yellow was on the verge of tears. She was just barely holding back her sobs. She saw me and seemed to be trying even harder not to cry.

"H-hi, Red." she said, finally managing to calm herself down.

"Yellow, what happened?" I asked.

"Red! Wait up! What's going on?" Green came running up to us, but stopped short seeing Yellow. "Oh, who's this?"

I ran through introductions as quickly as possible.

"This is Yellow. We met in the Viridian Forest. Yellow, this is Green. She's a childhood friend."

Green eyed Yellow. "So, she's a friend of yours?" She looked uncomfortable.

"Never mind that!" I turned back to Yellow. "I heard someone say something about stealing a pokemon. Yellow, did they…?"

She nodded. "They took my Pikachu. What am I gonna do?"

Green snapped to attention. "What did they look like? If we can find them somewhere in this cave, we can get your pokemon back."

Yellow looked a bit taken aback, but quickly regained her composure.

"Well, it was two people. A man and a lady. The lady had long, red hair and the man had blue hair. They were wearing these white clothes with a big, red "R" on the chest. Does that help any?"

"Alright, we'll look for someone wearing those clothes." I said. "We should split up to cover more ground."

"Good idea!" Green exclaimed. "We can each take a cave path. I'll go left. Yellow, do you have any other pokemon that can battle?"

Yellow smiled. "I just caught this little one here." she said, sending out a Clefairy.

"Great," Green said as she turned in the direction of the left cave "Send me a message on the pokedex if you find anything!"

"But I haven't got a-" But Green was already gone. "Your friend seems like a serious person." Yellow mused.

I shrugged. "When she wants to be."

* * *

It seemed like hours before we got any sort of lead. We seemed to be going around in circles just trying to navigate the caves as well. Yellow seemed to be getting disheartened.

"Red," she said in a worried tone, "What if they've already made it out of the cave? They could be anywhere by now."

"We have to at least try." I insisted. "I'm not giving up until we-"

A ping told me there was a message on my pokedex. I looked down at it.

"It's from Green! She says she's found something."

We ran, following her directions, until something caught my eye. Right in the clearing in the catacombs was a pokemon that for sure shouldn't be there.

"What's a Meowth doing in a cave?" I said aloud, beginning to approach it from behind.

Yellow's face filled with shock. "Red, don't!"

But I was already there. "Hey, little fella. You lost?"

A second later, I felt a slashing pain go down my face. It had bared its claws and scratched! Now it was standing on it's hind legs and…cackling?

"The twerp's dumber then he looks! Good thing we nabbed this pokedex, huh?" it exclaimed.

I began to pull out my pokeball to fight back.

"Ah-ah-ah!" came a woman's voice. "You don't want your friend to get a taste of Koffing's Poison Gas, do you?"

There was Green with an Ekans coiled around her and a Koffing next to her head.

"Red, don't listen to them!" Green yelled. "They have Yellow's Pikachu!"

"Quiet, you little brat!" came a man's voice.

The two came out of the shadows and struck a pose.

"Prepare for trouble!" the woman said.

"Make it double!" came the man's response.

"Now be a good little boy and hand over your pokemon!"

"Wha- Who are you?" I tried to figure it out.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"We're Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!"


End file.
